Shloka 15

Devanagari script

अद्य चाप्यस्य राष्ट्रस्य हतोत्साहस्य संजय । अवशेषं न पश्यामि ककुदे मृदिते सति,संजय! आज इस राष्ट्रका उत्साह भंग हो गया। प्रधानके मारे जानेसे अब मुझे किसीका जीवन शेष रहता नहीं दिखायी देता

Transliteration

adya cāpy asya rāṣṭrasya hatotsāhasya sañjaya | avaśeṣaṃ na paśyāmi kakude mṛdite sati ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra sprach: „Noch heute, Sañjaya, ist der Geist dieses Reiches zerschmettert. Da seine tragende Hauptsäule niedergeschlagen wurde, vermag ich für uns keinen Rest von Leben oder Hoffnung mehr zu erkennen.“

Word by Word

अद्यtoday

चand

अपिalso/even

अस्यof this

राष्ट्रस्यof the kingdom/state

हत-उत्साहस्यof (one) whose spirit/enthusiasm is destroyed

संजयO Sanjaya

अवशेषम्a remainder; anything left

नnot

पश्यामिI see

ककुदेwhen/with the chief (crest/bull’s hump; figuratively the leader)

मृदितेcrushed/slain

सतिwhen/while (it) is so; in the circumstance that

संजयO Sanjaya

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Sañjaya

rāṣṭra (the Kuru kingdom)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how a polity’s strength depends on its moral and strategic pillars; when the principal support falls, collective courage collapses. It also shows the ethical cost of war: victory and loss alike can hollow out a kingdom’s spirit.

What is happening in the narrative?

Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing battlefield news from Sañjaya in Droṇa Parva, expresses despair that the Kuru realm has lost its resolve. He uses the image of a chief ‘support’ being crushed to suggest that after the fall of a principal leader, he foresees no survival or remaining hope for his side.